Tax investigations protection
Ensure you are protected.
- A total of £36.9 billion in additional tax has been generated by tackling avoidance, evasion and non-compliance in 2019/20.
- The tax yield from individuals was up £2.8billion in 2019/20.
- HMRC saw a £2.2 billion compliance yield from wealthy individuals in the last tax years – and only spent an additional 8.6% on compliance activity to recover it.
- HMRC actually spent even less on small business compliance and yet generated an additional £7.6 billion in tax yield in 2019/20.
- Despite much press coverage which suggests otherwise, the largest businesses in the UK produced a return on investment of £714 for each £1 – an additional £2.2 billion in total.
The risk of any enquiry is very real.
Even if you’ve done nothing wrong, anyone can be selected. No business is too small or too large for HMRC to challenge.
High net worth individual
A HNW individual was subject to an enquiry by HMRC where HMRC wish to check whether the individuals’ domicile status. HMRC had requested a great deal of information over a period of 4 years. The Accountant has assisted the individual throughout the enquiry and after 4 years agreement was reached with HMRC to settle the enquiries. The cost of the enquiry was over £75,000.
Personal tax enquiry
Following a property sale, HMRC opened an enquiry into an individual’s Capital Gains Tax position; requesting property valuations, leases and even challenging the transaction, as it involved a business part-owned by a member of the client’s family. The enquiry was relatively short, but entailed much detailed correspondence. HMRC accepted there was no additional tax to pay, yet the fees were still £3,500.
SME
An SME (Software Company) was selected for an HMRC enquiry where HMRC wished to review the company’s claim for Research & Development Tax Credit Relief. HMRC wanted to check the qualifying expenditure. The Accountant provided a detailed reply to HMRC and subsequently held conference call with the HMRC Officer to explain the Research & Development claims. The Accountants’ assistance with this matter enabled HMRC to close the enquiry with no adjustments and the costs incurred were just over £6,000.
* All claims concluded across 2019/20
How we can protect you.
For an annual charge, you can rest assured that you are protected against the professional costs associated with an HMRC enquiry. The cost of not doing so, could be an unnecessarily high tax bill.
No-one can prevent an investigation, but our tax investigations service:
 | will remove your concerns about the rising costs of enquiries |
| ensures you receive the best defence to protect your tax position |
| enables us to challenge HMRC’s assertions and assumptions head on, and that the basis of any enquiry is correct and that your case is handled fairly |
| ensures the tax inspector is only asking for relevant information and documents, and provide all supporting information from our files that relates to your accounts |
| handles all communications with HMRC, including letters, phone calls or notices issued |
| prepares for and attend any face-to-face meetings with the tax inspector |
| argues any complex or technical tax cases that are raised during the enquiry |
Whether it’s a PAYE or VAT visit, a technical challenge or a detailed books and records enquiry, our tax investigations service is designed to get you a fair result. It is why we strongly recommend that all our clients subscribe.
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